SaGa Frontier 2 tells an formidable, generational story that entails two main familial traces over time and the way in which a mysterious object intertwines these tales. Initially just a little little bit of a messier expertise, SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered smoothes out a number of the rougher edges and provides some vastly appreciated high quality of life facets whereas additionally slapping a pleasant coat of paint on its lovely watercolor artwork.
SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered
Developer: Sq. Enix, Bullets
Value: $29.99
Platform: Steam, PS5 (reviewed), PS4, Change, iOS & Android
MonsterVine was provided with a PlayStation 5 code for assessment
SaGa Frontier 2 initially got here out in Japan on April 1st, 1999, for the PlayStation 1, however I wouldn’t play it till the following 12 months when it was launched within the US on February fifteenth, 2000. The primary Frontier sport was my introduction to the SaGa again then, and I used to be hungry for extra of it after spending an enormous period of time studying the ins and outs of SaGa Frontier 1. I wasn’t too positive what to anticipate, however I fortunately grabbed it the primary time I noticed it in my native Blockbuster, and I keep in mind simply being blown away by it once I performed it. From the gorgeous artwork fashion to the gameplay enhancements, I used to be consuming all of it up, though the primary one was nonetheless in my common sport rotation. It’s sat in my thoughts that may completely shine from a remaster for a very long time, and there may be loads of footage of me speaking about it on-line at this level, so you’ll be able to think about my pleasure when this was correctly introduced.
(*2*)
SaGa is a collection recognized for being very open, so it’s fascinating that right here in SaGa Frontier 2, there’s a stronger deal with narrative, world constructing, and characters than ever earlier than. You get to know an enormous solid of characters as a result of this isn’t a narrative instructed over a couple of years, however practically 100 years and a number of generations of characters. One factor that basically stood out to me on my playthrough of the remaster is simply HOW good this story was. It’s been fairly a while since I final performed it, and whereas I preferred the story, I used to be extra within the broader strokes of excellent versus evil that framed it. This time, although, there may be a lot political intrigue that I observed happening as these lords of the land betray one another, and make selections that you just see ripple by the story for years, which didn’t stick out to me as a lot as a child.
You observe the story of the Knights household, in addition to the household of Gustave XIII, on this story. Will Knights is a model new “Digger,” which on this world is an explorer looking for historical “Quells,” that are instruments created lengthy prior to now that maintain important energy and worth, so they’re extremely contested. Lots of the bigger dungeons within the sport belong to the Knights sections, so that they really feel just a little bit extra like a standard SaGa Expertise. Gustave XIII is the besmirched son of a royal household who’s exiled alongside along with his mom as a result of he can not channel anima, which has similarities to magic on this world. A lot of the key story occasions of the timeline occur in his eventualities, and he’s the one character to have Military Battles in them, giving it a little bit of a extra distinctive really feel.
Your entire favourite SaGa standbys are right here; you stage up totally different stats on the finish of fights as a substitute of gaining a singular stage, so you’ll be able to customise characters to your liking, however additionally they have clear strengths and roles to play as effectively, so that you might need a greater expertise doing that. In fact, it wouldn’t be SaGa with out the Glimmer system, making fight at all times be one lightbulb away from a shot of dopamine and a brand new assault to make use of. One of many different gameplay modes, the 1-on-1 duels, that are new to the collection, really allows you to attempt to study particular techs as a substitute of the semi-random nature of the mechanic beforehand. The 1-on-1 battles had me studying excessive-stage strategies fairly early on, which was actually useful to maintain up with the rising energy of enemies.
There may be one other new sport mode for the collection as effectively, with military battles. These truthfully are largely inoffensive, however rolling some unhealthy RNG can actually make these battles of generic troopers drag on or flip into a foul state of affairs shortly. Sadly, military battles are additionally house to one of the irritating elements of the sport, the Battle of South Moundtop. To today, it nonetheless offers me bother, and I needed to bash my head in opposition to that mission as a child to beat it. It comes out of nowhere and is a large bounce from any of the earlier military battles. I may be holding a grudge, however it’s a jarring comparability.
The backgrounds and artwork look completely beautiful after their improve, and whereas they appeared nice on the PS1, now you can see simply how a lot element and love went into each display of this sport. To make issues just a little bit extra manageable, you’ll be able to have characters inherit stats from different characters, which is able to make them stronger and reduce the period of time it’s a must to spend grinding up a brand new technology of characters, which is vastly appreciated. Including to that, within the additions, you’ll be able to entry different characters’ inventories MUCH simpler now, so that you aren’t questioning what occurred to that highly effective Quell you discovered 30 years in the past. A velocity-up operate was additionally added, which made me notice simply how a lot time I spent watching battle animations on this sport as a child. That is one other welcome addition that needs to be customary in these sorts of remasters.
They restored some content material that didn’t make it to the total launch as effectively, fleshing out the story much more. They added some publish-sport tremendous bosses, in addition to a full-on New Recreation+ mode and the inclusion of Go! Go! Digger is nice to see, particularly as a result of that final one was locked to the PocketStation, and I by no means had the prospect to play with it. Does it barely break the sport steadiness by injecting tons of weapons and armor into the economic system? Possibly just a little bit, however this sport is infamous for comfortable-locking individuals simply because they weren’t sturdy sufficient for a combat you’ll be able to’t grind earlier than, so I don’t suppose giving us further energy is the worst factor they may have finished.
The Ultimate Phrase
SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered lets one of the best elements of the unique sport shine, whereas sanding out a number of the tough edges that may detract from the participant expertise. The story shines as top-of-the-line ones within the franchise, and the addition of recent kinds of fight retains issues feeling fairly contemporary. It is a full featured remaster, and I hope we proceed to see the SaGa collection get this sort of love and care from Sq. Enix; it deserves it.
– MonsterVine Score: 4 out of 5 – Good
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